Preventing deflation is central task, ECB's Nowotny says

ALPBACH, Austria (Reuters) - The main monetary task of a central bank in the current environment is to prevent deflation and the European Central Bank has succeeded in doing that, ECB Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said on Thursday. "In monetary policy, the prevention of deflation is the central task in the current constellation. That has been a success," Nowotny said in a speech at an economic conference in the Alpine resort of Alpbach. (Reporting by Francois Murphy and Kirsti Knolle, editing by Larry King)